Vet visit for Waldo

[Jakedn]

Well, Waldo's eye problem never went away and started to get worse so I took him to see Dr. Greek again.

Waldo's eye has been having an abnormal shape and was producing fluid that would cake over his pupil.

When I noticed this a while back I bought some terramycin figuring it should clear up his eye infection with ease. Sadly, it did not.

The terramycin did atleast make it somewhat better with some immediate results. His eye got better and he seemed to see better and use his eye better. But the eye problems still persisted.

I figured that the terramycin just needed time to work so I continued to put it on 2 times a day for over a month. It got somewhat better, but never completely healed and still retained the abnormal shape. I decided it was time to give up on using the terramycin and I took him to the vet.

Dr. Greek said that the abnormal shape is edema in his eye and that when looking through bright light along with magnification he saw some scarring or irritation in Waldo's eye. Dr. Greek then showed me how to clean out his eye correctly with saline and prescribed Waldo with Gentamicin. I am to give Waldo a drop in his eye 2-3 times daily.

So far, after he cleaned out the eye and gave him a drop of the Gentamicin, Waldo's pupil looks significantly clearer and more alert.

I hope to see these improvements continue throughout his treatment and hope I can get his eye cleared up once and for all.

I didn't think of asking at the time, but if someone knows, why would edema form in only one of his eyes? Also, what are some things I could do to get his edema cleared up faster?

Thanks,
Jake

 

[Jakedn]

After looking at Waldo some more, it appears as he may have slight gular edema as well.

Can someone who is knowledgeable about edema shoot me a PM as I want to learn as much as I can about edema and see how I can get rid of it.

It seems to be difficult to find much information on it. So if anybody has some links to some good sites about it, that would help as well.

 

[Carlton]

I haven't dealt with gular edema myself, so only know a little about it. It's a symptom of metabolic problems (uric acid/kidney problems?). But, the eye infection bacteria must have been more sensitive to Gentamycin.

 

[Jakedn]

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 16x16x30 screen cage, soon to be upgraded to a 24x24x48 screen cage.
* Lighting - I am using a reptisun 5.0 linear uvb light and a regular basking light that is not compact. lights are on at 7:00 and off at 7:00
* Temperature - My basking temperature stays around 80-85. Will be getting a higher wattage basking bulb to raise it up to high 80's consistently. I measure my temps with a digital thermometer.
* Humidity - My humidity is consistently around 50 percent and bumps up to around 70 after a good misting.
* Plants - I am using a schefflera for his live plant. Forget the full scientific name, but I did my research to be sure that it was not the poisonous one.
* Placement - My cage is located in my bedroom with low traffic. The cage stands at its highest point being over 5 foot tall. It is about the same height as me.
* Location - I am located in southern california


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - It is a male veiled chameleon at about 6 months old and he has been in my care for a few months.
* Handling - I only handle my chameleon to give him gentamycin prescribed to do so 2-3 times a day, the handling sessions are short and stress is kept to a minimum, he does not show stress coloration when I do this. The only other times I handle him is to take him outside to bask in the sun. This too does not stress him other than if I take him back inside before he is done basking, and even then it is a quick walk back to the cage and then he is happy again haha.
* Feeding - I feed him 5-10 crickets daily, sometimes swtiching out crickets for dubia roaches. They are gutloaded on oranges for moisture and kale for variety. I know my gutloading could be better, I plan to improve it.
* Supplements - I supplement with reptivite w/ d3 twice a month, phosphorous free calcium w/ d3 once a month and phosphorous free calcium w/o d3 at every feeding.
* Watering - I mist atleast once a day, sometimes up to 3 if I have the time and he looks like he needs extra hydration. Lately he's been needing much more water than usual. I used to only have to mist once a day but now, if I only mist once I usually see some orange in his urate. So, I've been trying to keep his mistings up to atleast twice a day lately.
* Fecal Description - His feces is always fully digested and with a somewhat firm consistency. His urates are usually fully white though lately I've seen some orange at the tip and once I saw this, I bumped up his mistings.
* History - When I received Waldo he had slight edema, a respiratory infection, and some debris in his eye. The respiratory infection is gone, the edema was gone and is now back, the debris turned into an infection despite being cleaned out numerous times with saline and putting terramycin on it once the eye infection symptoms presented itself.
* Current Problem - I am mainly concerned about Waldo's edema. His edema is mainly present in one eye and in his neck.

If you see anything wrong with my husbandry, please let me know. I want to make sure I am giving him the best care possible and find out if my husbandry is contributing to the problem and fix whatever may be wrong.

 

[Jakedn]

Got a picture of his eye before I washed it out and gave him his eye drops. You can see the edema in his eye and in his neck.

 

[beeze]

Glad that you took him back to the vets. Hope it will clear up for you soon.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Jake,

Post a few more photos of Waldo showing his gular edema. Try to take a few full-body side photos.

It sounds like you are not over-supplementing and you are not feeding a bunch of Superworms either (can end-up with too much phosphorus from Supers).

There are a number of reasons for gular edema, kidney failure being one of them. Years ago (2005), when my Panther had symptoms of gular edema, a blood test showed that his calcium to phosphorus ratio was updside down due to excessive phosphorus from too many Superworms in his diet. Dr. Greek said that if treatment didn't clear it up then kidney failure would be the likely cause intead of just the Superworms. Treatment was 0.1cc of Mylanta orally for 14 days. 14 days later, the swelling symptoms were gone and the second blood test confirmed that the ratio was fixed. It never occured again.

 

[Jakedn]

Howdy Jake,

Post a few more photos of Waldo showing his gular edema. Try to take a few full-body side photos.

It sounds like you are not over-supplementing and you are not feeding a bunch of Superworms either (can end-up with too much phosphorus from Supers).

There are a number of reasons for gular edema, kidney failure being one of them. Years ago (2005), when my Panther had symptoms of gular edema, a blood test showed that his calcium to phosphorus ratio was updside down due to excessive phosphorus from too many Superworms in his diet. Dr. Greek said that if treatment didn't clear it up then kidney failure would be the likely cause intead of just the Superworms. Treatment was 0.1cc of Mylanta orally for 14 days. 14 days later, the swelling symptoms were gone and the second blood test confirmed that the ratio was fixed. It never occured again.

Thank you for looking into this Dave. I sure do hope that this isn't kidney failure, and I don't think anything in my husbandry could cause that. So far, it looks like the edema in Waldo's eye has gotten somewhat better. However, everywhere else still appears to be as bad or maybe even getting worse.

I read once that gular edema could be caused by bad tap water, do you know if there is any truth to that statement?

I give waldo tap water that goes through a brita pitcher filter. Now, I know that this does not remove all of the impurities of my horrible tap water but I figured it should get rid of enough. Also, if it was my water would the problems have started soon after I got him and have persisted throughout the entire time he has been in my care, or would it be possible that whatever minerals are in my tap water that made it past the filter have been building up in his system since I have owned him and are just now presenting a problem?

I will also see about either purchasing a better water filter or, if we do not have enough funds, water that is already purified to see if this can correct his edema.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...everywhere else still appears to be as bad or maybe even getting worse.

I read once that gular edema could be caused by bad tap water, do you know if there is any truth to that statement?

I give waldo tap water that goes through a brita pitcher filter. Now, I know that this does not remove all of the impurities of my horrible tap water but I figured it should get rid of enough. Also, if it was my water would the problems have started soon after I got him and have persisted throughout the entire time he has been in my care, or would it be possible that whatever minerals are in my tap water that made it past the filter have been building up in his system since I have owned him and are just now presenting a problem?...

Howdy Jake,

Although water mineral and impurity content could be related to your chameleon's edema problem, I doubt it. I too, am in SoCal along with 40+ other members of the SBCK and if water quality was closely coupled with edema then we'd see it a lot more often . He may be predisposed to it all the way down to a genetic level but I doubt that too (that would be too easy an "out" for us keepers ).

Ask Dr. Greek if he thinks the "Mylanta Treatment" is worth a try in case there is a phosphorus build-up. Blood tests can confirm it if you've got the money for one.

Again, I'd like to see photos of the gular edema to see just what you are up against.

 

[Jakedn]

Howdy Jake,

Although water mineral and impurity content could be related to your chameleon's edema problem, I doubt it. I too, am in SoCal along with 40+ other members of the SBCK and if water quality was closely coupled with edema then we'd see it a lot more often . He may be predisposed to it all the way down to a genetic level but I doubt that too (that would be too easy an "out" for us keepers ).

Ask Dr. Greek if he thinks the "Mylanta Treatment" is worth a try in case there is a phosphorus build-up. Blood tests can confirm it if you've got the money for one.

Again, I'd like to see photos of the gular edema to see just what you are up against.

I apologize, I do not yet have more photos of his edema. It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to get him out of his cage for treatment and whatever else needs to be done as he loses trust with me every time I have to take him out when it is not on his terms or when I have to restrict his movement when I wash his eye out .I have been trying and still am to get him out on his own terms for photos as I hate to have to stress him out, but I am having no luck and even have to give him his eye drops when he comes up to bask. I could get pictures when he is basking or sleeping I suppose, but I don't know if I could get them from the right angles for you. I'll try that and see if I have any luck.

We are low on money lately, but how much would blood tests cost?

 

[Jakedn]

After posting that I managed to grab some decent pictures haha. Well, here they are:

http://img690.imageshack.us/i/012yg.jpg/ <-gular edema

http://img689.imageshack.us/i/004bk.jpg/ <-picture of his body

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/015wb.jpg/ <-his bad eye

 

[jannb]

Each vet charges different. Call Dr. Greek's office for their fee.

 

[Jakedn]

Each vet charges different. Call Dr. Greek's office for their fee.

I believe Dave Weldon has the same vet as me, though I could be mistaken. If not then yeah I'll give Dr. Greek's office a quick call. Just didn't wanna scrounge through phone numbers to find his number lol.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Jake,

It's hard to tell the extent of his edema from those photos . If you happen to get a shot of him while he is completely horizontal it might help to show if his gular edema is more pronounced than in the off-horizontal photos. You spoke of full-body edema. I'm wondering if there is something other than edema going on there or if he is just fat. Is he still acting normal or is he getting sluggish and not active?

 

[Jakedn]

Howdy Jake,

It's hard to tell the extent of his edema from those photos . If you happen to get a shot of him while he is completely horizontal it might help to show if his gular edema is more pronounced than in the off-horizontal photos. You spoke of full-body edema. I'm wondering if there is something other than edema going on there or if he is just fat. Is he still acting normal or is he getting sluggish and not active?

I have seen no change in activity except for he started turning his nose away to food, and has eaten very little in the past few days. He is definitely not overfed.

His movement is not sluggish, and he has even bitten me. Thankfully not hard though haha.

What else do you think could be going on?

EDIT: Sorry about the pictures, I will try to get some more as soon as I can. Hopefully he sleeps in a good position for a photo tonight.

 

[andresaveiro]

To be honest with you Jakedn, the first pic you posted doesn't look like an edema... I'm probably the worst person to consult but I think chams have a like bump on their necks. BUT, in the second pic the bump does look big. I agree that you should post some side pics of Waldo to determine if he does have an edema.

 

[jannb]

It wouldn't hurt to try bottled water for awhile. My female had edema for the longest time and once we got the RO system it went away.

 

[Jakedn]

It wouldn't hurt to try bottled water for awhile. My female had edema for the longest time and once we got the RO system it went away.

Will do, thank you for the suggestion.

I'll have to go buy a bunch for him tomorrow. Hopefully that is all that is wrong and his edema clears up.